Fear is the overriding issue in our church. It does not seem to matter whether it is a thousand member congregation with a million dollar endowment or a ten member congregation without indoor plumbing. Everyone thinks the church is two Sundays away from closing its doors. Fear so permeates the PCUSA that people smell it on us when they come into our churches. We Presbyterians worry about declining membership. We fret about losing our young people and our relevance in an increasingly secular society. We’re afraid of change, and of drifting away from our Biblical moorings. Most of all we fear conflict.